More than 15 million people worldwide struggle with alcohol use disorder, a chronic relapsing condition that can have severe consequences on a person’s physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing. Despite its prevalence, few effective medications to treat alcohol addiction exist, and the risk of relapse after seeking treatment can be up to 90 percent within four years.
Now, a May 4 Science Advances study finds that editing epigenetic markers on a noncoding, regulatory region of the genome diminished both alcohol-seeking and anxious behaviors in rats exposed to binge drinking early in life. While the technology is far from being able to treat alcohol use disorder in people, the University of Illinois at Chicago researchers say the discovery could pave the way for future therapies.
“The paper is awesome,” Elizabeth Heller, an addiction neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania who was not involved in the study, tells The Scientist. “It is clearly ...
